Economizer controller plug and play system recognition with automatic user interface population

ABSTRACT

An economizer controller system having a plug and play recognition approach with an automatic user interface population mechanism. A check may be made for sensors connected to the controller. The control type of the sensors may be determined. The menu structure may be repopulated based on the control type. The user interface may then be updated. This approach may be repeated as needed.

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/890,396, filed Sep. 24, 2010, and entitled “Economizer ControllerPlug and Play System Recognition with Automatic User InterfacePopulation”. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/890,396, filed Sep. 24,2010, is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure pertains to controllers and particularly toeconomizer controllers. More particularly, the disclosure pertains touser interfaces of economizer controllers.

SUMMARY

The disclosure reveals an economizer controller system having a plug andplay recognition approach with an automatic user interface populationmechanism. A check may be made for sensors connected to the controller.The control type of the sensors may be determined. The menu structuremay be repopulated based on the control type. The user interface maythen be updated. This approach may be repeated as needed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram for the subject economizer controller plug andplay system recognition with automatic user interface population;

FIGS. 2a, 2b, 3a, 3b, 4a, 4b, 5a and 5b are diagrams of several examplesof configurations and menus based on mode; and

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a representative economizer controllersystem which may be an illustrative system associated with examples ofthe present disclosure.

DESCRIPTION

There may be numerous economizer system configurations and controltypes. A system configuration may include many combinations of mixed airtemperature sensing, outdoor air temperature sensing, return airtemperature sensing, outdoor air humidity sensing, return air humiditysensing, discharge air temperature sensing, discharge air humiditysensing, and/or other sensing. The system control types may consist ofsingle ended drybulb control, differential drybulb control, single endedenthalpy control, differential enthalpy control, hybrid controlstrategies, and/or other controls. Each system configuration and controltype may have specific user interface (UI) population and setuprequirements.

The present approach may solve the issue by implementing an automaticsystem configuration determination routine in controller firmware.Periodically, the controller may search for attached sensors anddetermine the appropriate control type and populate the user interfacemenu structure accordingly. The controller may have a graphical userinterface.

An economizer/DCV (demand controlled ventilation) controller may havethe present system recognition and automatic user interface populationroutine implemented in firmware.

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram 10 for the subject economizer controller plugand play system recognition with automatic user interface population.From a start 11, the system may check for connected sensors at symbol12. The control type of the sensors may be determined at symbol 13. Themenu structure may be repopulated based on control type at symbol 14.Then the user interface may be updated at symbol 15. The approach may beredone to check again for connected sensors by returning to symbol 12.

FIGS. 2a-5b are diagrams of several examples of configurations and menusbased on mode. In FIG. 2a , the setup may begin with an economizercontroller 20 having a thermostat 21 connected to the economizer 20 anda rooftop unit 22. Thermostat 21 and rooftop 22 may be connected toeconomizer controller 20. Also connected to controller 20 may be aneconomizer damper actuator 23. There may be an optional communicatingdemand control actuator (DCA). Components 20-23 may make up acombination 19 that is present in FIGS. 2a, 3a, 4a and 5a . FIGS. 2b,3b, 4b and 5b reveal a menu structure with headings of status 31,setpoints 32, system setup 33, advanced 34 and checkout 35.

FIG. 2a is a diagram for a setup for a single dry bulb. A mixed airtemperature (MAT) analog 20K ohm thermister 24 and an outdoor airtemperature (OAT) analog 20K ohm thermister 25 may be connected tocontroller 20 of combination 19. FIG. 2b is a table 27 revealing a menuassociated with the single dry bulb of a check for connected sensors,determination of control type, repopulation of menu structure based oncontrol type, and update of user interface of the process 10 of FIG. 1.The headings may incorporate Status 31, Setpoint 32, System Setup 33,Advanced 34 and Checkout 35. Status 31 may have a listing of “EconAvail,” “Economizing”, “Occupied”, “Cool Y1-In”, “Cool Y1-Out”, “CoolY2-In”, “Cool Y2-Out”, “MA Temp”, “OA Temp”, “Damper Out”, “Exh1 Out”and “Mech Cool On”. Setpoints 32 may have a listing of “Mat Set”, “Low TLock” “Dryblb Set”, “Enth Curve”, “Min Pos” and “Exh1 Set”. System Setup33 may have a listing of “Install”, “Units Deg”, “Equipment”, “Fan cfm”,“Aux Out” and “Fact Defaults”. Advanced 34 may have a listing of “Ma LoSet”, “Freeze Pas”, “Sta3 Dly”, “Interstg Dly” and “Sd Input”. Checkout35 may have a listing of “Damper Vmin-Hs”, “Damper Vmax-Hs”, “Damperopen”, “Damper close”, “Connect Y1-O”, “Connect Y2-O”, “Connect Exh1”and “Connect Aux”.

FIG. 3a is a diagram for a setup for single enthalpy. The mixed airtemperature analog 20K ohm thermister 24 and an outdoor temp/humiditysylkbus (Sylk™ bus) 37 may be connected to controller 20 of combination19. FIG. 3b is a table 38 revealing a menu associated with the singleenthalpy of a check for connected sensors, determination of controltype, repopulation of menu structure based on control type, and updateof the user interface of process 10. The headings of table 38 in FIG. 3b, as in FIG. 2b and FIGS. 4b and 5b , may incorporate Status 31,Setpoints 32, System Setup 33, Advanced 34 and Checkout 35. The headingsSetpoints 32, System Setup 33, Advanced 34 and Checkout 35 of table 38of FIG. 3b may have the same listings as the corresponding headings32-35 of table 28 in FIG. 2b . Status 31 of FIG. 3b may have anadditional item “OA Hum” after “OA Temp”. Sylk™ bus may be a 2-wire,non-polarity sensitive, communications and power bus. Sylk™ is atrademark of Honeywell International Inc. of Morristown, N.J.

FIG. 4a is a diagram for a setup for differential enthalpy without DCV.The mixed air temperature analog 20K ohm thermister 24, the outdoortemp/humidity Sylkbus 37 and a return temp/humidity Sylkbus 41 may beconnected to controller 20 of combination 19. FIG. 4b is a table 42revealing a menu associated with the differential enthalpy without DCVof a check for connected sensors, determination of control type,repopulation of menu structure based on control type, and update of theuser interface of process 10. The headings in FIG. 4b of table 42 may bethe same as the headings in table 27. The listings of the headings intable 42 may differ from the listings in table 27 of FIG. 2b in that the“OA Hum”, “RA Temp” and “RA Hum” may be present after “OA Temp” in thelisting of Status 31. “Dryblb Set” and “Enth Curve” may be absent after“Low T Lock” in Setpoints 32 when compared with Setpoints 32 of table 27in FIG. 2b . The remaining headings of table 42 may have the samelistings as the corresponding headings of table 27.

FIG. 5a is a diagram for a setup for differential enthalpy with DCV. Themixed air temperature analog 20K ohm thermister 24, the outdoortemp/humidity Sylkbus 37, the return temp/humidity Sylkbus 41, a CO2analog 2-10 VDC 44 and a discharge temp/humidity Sylkbus 45 may beconnected to controller 20 of combination 19. FIG. 5b is a table 46revealing a menu associated with the differential enthalpy with DCV of acheck for connected sensors, determination of control type, repopulationof menu structure based on control type and update of the user interfaceof process 10. The headings of table 46 in FIG. 5b may be the same asthe headings in table 27. The listings in table 46 may differ from thelistings in table 27 of FIG. 2b in that “DA Temp” may be added after “MATemp”, “OA Hum”, “RA Temp”, “RA Hum”, “in CO2” and “DCV Status” may beadded after “OA Temp”, in the listing of Status 31. “Dryblb Set”, “EnthCurve” and “Min Pos” may be absent after “Low T Lock” in Setpoints 32when compared with Setpoints 32 of table 27 in FIG. 2b . “DCV Set”,“VentMax” and “VentMin” may be added to the listing of heading Setpoints32 of table 46 when compared to table 27 in FIG. 2b . “CO2 Zero” may beadded to the listing of the Advanced 34 heading. The Checkout 35 headingin table 46 may have the same listing as the Checkout 35 heading oftable 27 in FIG. 2 b.

FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a representative economizer controllersystem 50 which may be an illustrative system associated with thepresent approach. A thermostat 51 may be connected to an economizerlogic module 52. A demand control ventilation sensor 53 may be connectedto module 52. Return air 54 may come in through a recirculation damper55 into a mixing air chamber 56 where air 54 may be mixed with outdoorair 57 coming through an intake damper 58. Mixed air may be dischargeair 59 which is drawn by an indoor fan 61 through a direct expansioncoil 62 and provided to a space being conditioned via a supply duct 68.Dampers 55 and 58 may be controlled by an actuator 63 which is connectedto module 52. Damper 58 may close as damper 55 opens and vice versa. Aportion of return air 54 may taken from return air duct 64 and drawnthrough a damper 65 by an exhaust fan 66 through an exhaust duct 76 tooutside the system as exhaust air 67. Exhaust fan 66 may be connected tomodule 52. The position of damper 65 may be determined at least in partby module 52. The proportions of outdoor air 57 and recirculated air 54taken into supply duct 68, as well as the amount of air 67 from returnair duct 64, may be controlled by intake damper 58, recirculation damper55 and exhaust damper 65. An enthalpy sensor 71 situated in an intake oroutdoor air duct 73 may be connected to module 52. For differentialenthalpy, a second enthalpy sensor 72, along with enthalpy sensor 71,may be connected to module 52.

A mixed air sensor 74 may be situated in chamber or duct 56, or adischarge air sensor 75 may situated in chamber or duct 68, but notnecessarily both. One or the other of or both sensors 74 and 75 may beconnected to logic module 52. There may be situations where there wouldbe both a mixed air sensor in the mixed air chamber and a separatedischarge air sensor in the discharge chamber or duct. There may also besituations where there is not a discharge air sensor but that a mixedair sensor is mounted in the discharge chamber or duct.

Economizer controller systems may save energy in buildings by using cooloutside air as a means of cooling the indoor space. When the enthalpy ofthe outside air is less than the enthalpy of the recirculated air,conditioning the outside air may be more energy efficient thanconditioning recirculated air. When the outside air is both sufficientlycool and sufficiently dry (depending on the climate), the amount ofenthalpy in the air is acceptable to the control, no additionalconditioning of it is necessarily needed. This portion of the economizercontrol scheme may be referred to as free cooling.

Economizer systems may reduce HVAC energy costs in cold and temperateclimates while also potentially improving indoor air quality, but theymight often not be appropriate in hot and humid climates. With theproper controls, economizer systems may be used in climates whichexperience various weather systems.

When the outside air's dry-bulb and wet-bulb temperatures are lowenough, economizer systems may use water cooled by a wet cooling towerto cool buildings without operating a chiller. Often a plate-and-frameheat exchanger may be inserted between, for example, the cooling towerand chilled water loops.

To recap, an economizer controller system recognition approach mayincorporate checking for connected sensors to an economizer controllerof an economizer controller system, determining a control type of theconnected sensors, repopulating a menu structure based on the controltype, updating a user interface of the economizer controller system, andrepeating the approach as desired or needed. The repopulating the menustructure may be automatic.

The economizer controller system may have a configuration, and theconfiguration may incorporate one or more combinations of sensing. Theone or more combinations of sensing may incorporate mixed airtemperature sensing, outdoor air temperature sensing, return airsensing, outdoor air humidity sensing, return air humidity sensing,discharge air temperature sensing, discharge air humidity sensing,and/or other applicable sensing.

The economizer controller system may incorporate one or more controltypes. The one or more control types may incorporate single endeddrybulb control, differential drybulb control, single ended enthalpycontrol, differential enthalpy control, and/or other applicable control.

The economizer controller system may have a configuration and a controltype. The configuration and control type may incorporate a specific userinterface population and setup requirements. The economizer controllersystem may have an automatic system configuration determination routinein firmware of an economizer controller of the system.

The economizer controller system may periodically perform the checkingfor connected sensors, determining the control type of the connectedsensors, and repopulating the user interface menu structure based on thecontrol type. A control type of a sensor may incorporate status of thesystem, setpoints, system setup, advanced settings, checkout of dampersand ducts, and/or other applicable items.

The economizer controller system may incorporate an economizercontroller, a rooftop economizer unit connected to the economizercontroller, and a thermostat connected to the economizer controller andto the rooftop economizer unit. The economizer controller system mayfurther incorporate an economizer damper actuator connected to theeconomizer controller.

This system may even further incorporate an outdoor air temperaturesensor, a mixed air temperature sensor, an outdoor humidity sensor, adischarge air temperature sensor, a return air temperature sensor, adischarge air humidity sensor, a return air humidity sensor and/or a CO2sensor connected to the economizer controller. One or more otherapplicable sensors may be connected to the economizer controller. Thesystem may also have a communicating demand control actuator connectedto the economizer controller.

A system having a recognition system with a user interface populating,may incorporate an economizer controller. The system may have a userinterface connected to the economizer controller, a sensor checker fordetecting sensors connected to the economizer controller, a typeindicator for indicating a control type of the sensors, a mechanism forpopulating and/or repopulating a menu structure of the user interface,and/or other applicable mechanisms as appropriate. The repopulating themenu structure may be automatic. The sensor checker, type indicatorand/or the mechanism for populating (and/or repopulating) may enable aplug and play aspect of the economizer controller.

The system may further incorporate a thermostat connected to theeconomizer controller, and an economizer rooftop unit connected to themechanism for populating and/or repopulating and the thermostat.

An approach for updating a user interface of an economizer system, mayincorporate providing an economizer controller having a user interface,providing a menu structure for the user interface, detecting sensorsconnected to the economizer controller, identifying a control type ofthe sensors connected to the economizer controller, and populatingand/or repopulating the menu structure based on control type. Thepopulating and/or repopulating the menu structure may be automatic. Theeconomizer controller may have plug and play recognition.

U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,161,764, 4,570,448, and 7,434,413 may be relevant. U.S.Pat. No. 6,161,764, issued Dec. 19, 2000, is hereby incorporated byreference. U.S. Pat. No. 4,570,448, issued Feb. 18, 1986, is herebyincorporated by reference. U.S. Pat. No. 7,434,413, issued Oct. 14,2008, is hereby incorporated by reference.

In the present specification, some of the matter may be of ahypothetical or prophetic nature although stated in another manner ortense.

Although the present system has been described with respect to at leastone illustrative example, many variations and modifications will becomeapparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the specification. Itis therefore the intention that the appended claims be interpreted asbroadly as possible in view of the prior art to include all suchvariations and modifications.

What is claimed is:
 1. An economizer controller plug and play systemrecognition method performed by an economizer controller installedon-site for controlling an HVAC economizer system, the methodcomprising: the economizer controller discovering sensors connected tothe economizer controller; the economizer controller repopulating a menustructure in accordance with control types of the discovered sensors;and the economizer controller repeating the method; and wherein themethod is performed automatically by the economizer controller byexecuting a system configuration determination routine stored infirmware of the economizer controller.
 2. The method of claim 1, whereinthe repopulating the menu structure is automatic.
 3. The method of claim1, further comprising the economizer controller updating a userinterface of the economizer controller system in accordance with controltypes of the discovered sensors.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein: theeconomizer controller system comprises a configuration; and theconfiguration comprises one or more combinations of sensing.
 5. Themethod of claim 4, wherein the one or more combinations of sensingcomprise at least one of: mixed air temperature sensing; outdoor airtemperature sensing; return air sensing; outdoor air humidity sensing;return air humidity sensing; discharge air temperature sensing; anddischarge air humidity sensing.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein: theeconomizer controller system comprises one or more control types; andthe one or more control types comprise at least one of: single endeddrybulb control; differential drybulb control; single ended enthalpycontrol; and differential enthalpy control.
 7. The method of claim 1,wherein the economizer controller system comprises: a configuration; anda control type; and wherein the configuration and control type comprise:a specific user interface population; and setup requirements.
 8. Themethod of claim 1, wherein the economizer controller system periodicallyperforms the checking for connected sensors, determining the controltype of the connected sensors, and repopulating the user interface menustructure based on the control type.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein acontrol type of a sensor comprises at least one of: status of thesystem; setpoints; system setup; advanced settings; and checkout ofdampers and ducts.
 10. The method of claim 1, wherein the economizercontroller system comprises: the economizer controller; a rooftopeconomizer unit connected to the economizer controller; and a thermostatconnected to the economizer controller and the rooftop economizer unit.11. The method of claim 10, wherein the economizer controller systemfurther comprises an economizer damper actuator connected to theeconomizer controller.
 12. The method of claim 10, wherein the systemfurther comprises at least one of: an outdoor air temperature sensorconnected to the economizer controller; a mixed air temperature sensorconnected to the economizer controller; an outdoor humidity sensorconnected to the economizer controller; a discharge air temperaturesensor connected to the economizer controller; a return air temperaturesensor connected to the economizer controller; a discharge air humiditysensor connected to the economizer controller; a return air humiditysensor connected to the economizer controller; and a CO2 sensorconnected to the economizer controller.
 13. The method of claim 10,wherein the system further comprises a communicating demand controlactuator connected to the economizer controller.
 14. An economizercontroller plug and play system having a recognition system with a userinterface populating capability, comprising: an economizer controllerinstalled on-site for controlling an HVAC economizer system, theeconomizer controller providing: a user interface; a sensor checker fordetecting sensors connected to the economizer controller; a typeindicator for indicating a control type of the sensors; and a mechanismfor populating and/or repopulating the user interface; and wherein thesensor checker, the type indicator, and the mechanism for populatingand/or repopulating the user interface are implemented in an automaticsystem configuration determination routine stored in firmware of theeconomizer controller.
 15. The system of claim 14, wherein repopulatingthe user interface is automatic.
 16. The system of claim 14, wherein thesensor checker, type indicator and/or the mechanism for populatingand/or repopulating enables a plug and play aspect of the economizercontroller.
 17. The system of claim 14, further comprising: a thermostatconnected to the economizer controller; and an economizer rooftop unitconnected to the mechanism for populating and/or repopulating and thethermostat.
 18. A method for updating a user interface of an economizersystem to enable a plug and play aspect of the economizer system,comprising: providing an on-site economizer controller for controllingan HVAC economizer, the on-site economizer controller having a userinterface; and the on-site economizer controller executing an automaticsystem configuration determination routine stored in firmware of theeconomizer controller that performs the steps of: detecting sensorsconnected to the economizer controller; identifying a control type ofthe detected sensors connected to the economizer controller; andpopulating and/or repopulating the user interface based on the controltype of the detected sensors.
 19. The method of claim 18, whereinpopulating and/or repopulating the user interface is automatic.
 20. Themethod of claim 19, wherein the economizer controller comprises plug andplay recognition.